Health & Safety

Healthy students make better learners. In this section you will learn about initiatives that are helping kids come to school ready to learn, as well as get updates on research on how physical and mental health relates to academic achievement and success beyond the school doors.

Stories from the Field

Sacramento Parent Home-Visit Model Builds Trust, Achievement

In the low-income neighborhood of South Sacramento in the late 1990’s, parents and guardians were told by the school district that they were “partners” in their children’s education, yet they felt they were treated like problems rather than solutions. Communication, and trust, were at an all-time low. Helped by a...

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Dispelling the Myth by Working Together

The Education Trust honored three outstanding public schools at their Dispelling the Myth Awards ceremony. These schools were chosen because, “[they] are doing the right thing for kids: providing a rich, coherent curriculum and making it interesting and engaging for their students. In the process, they are making themselves the...

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LFA Updates

Three Lessons Learned from COVID-19

A countywide school district engaged its community and strategized with multiple groups to ensure its schools could safely reopen.

By Cody Patterson Hamilton County Schools (HCS) in Chattanooga, the fourth largest district in Tennessee, was one of thousands of public school districts left grappling with how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain the continuity of learning, the district launched a School Reopening Task Force and worked furiously...

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Students Missing Routine-but-Critical Vaccines During Pandemic

New initiative helps parents and educators get more children and adolescents protected against potentially deadly diseases as they return to school buildings During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of children—at least one in five—have missed critical vaccinations that keep them healthy and our communities free from disease. Students without these vaccinations...

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Member Resources

Secondary School Principals’ "Breakfast After the Bell" Toolkit

In partnership with NASSP, the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) has developed the Secondary School Principals’ "Breakfast After the Bell" Toolkit to help middle and high school principals collaborate with their school nutrition departments to implement strong breakfast programs that reach more students and increase school breakfast participation. Included...

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Cutting Medicaid: A Prescription to Hurt the Neediest Kids

Superintendents and other school district leaders are “overwhelmingly concerned” and “deeply worried” about students in special education programs and those living in poverty if Republican proposals to refinance Medicaid are enacted, according to a new AASA survey. In Cutting Medicaid: A Prescription to Hurt the Neediest Kids, close to 1,000...

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